STATEN ISLAND,
N.Y. -- A Rossville man fired three shots at his ex-wife’s Prince’s Bay
home during a booze-fueled rampage that ended with a series of car crashes
across the South Shore last night, police
allege.

Authorities say Arthur Omdahl, 48, of the 200 block
of Gervil Street, left eight wrecked cars in his wake, in a spree that stopped when he was arrested following a five-car
smash-up at the intersection of Hylan Boulevard and Richmond Avenue at about 9
p.m.

Omdahl started his wild night at about 7:30 p.m. at
the Albourne Avenue East home of his ex-wife and the mother of his children,
according to police.

He told the man who answered the door that he had
brought child support for his children.

But instead of a check, he pulled out a nickel-plated
.38 caliber handgun from his sweatshirt pocket, police said.

The two argued and struggled, and the man managed to
wrest the gun out of Omdahl’s hands, according to cops.

But the gun appeared unloaded, so the man gave it
back to Omdahl and told him to leave, cops said.

Omdahl returned to his car, a blue 2004 Dodge
Ram, fired off three rounds — one of which went through the house’s front door —
and drove off, police allege.

Omdahl made his way to the Korean War Veterans
Parkway, where he rear-ended a Hyundai Accent on the Parkway, near the Richmond
Avenue exit, according to cops.

"He was doing 70 mph. One minute he wasn’t behind me.
The next minute I was hit," said the car’s driver, a 52-year-old woman who spoke
on the condition of anonymity.

Her car was wrecked, she said, but she escaped
uninjured.

"It was like a bad movie, one of those b-movies you’d
see on TV," she said.

Omdahl kept going, and took the Richmond Avenue exit,
authorities said. He hit another car at the intersection of Arthur Kill Road and
Richmond Avenue, according to police, and kept driving down Richmond Avenue.

That’s when he rear-ended 18-year-old Jocelyn Padilla
of Eltingville as she was trying to pull into the parking lot of the YMCA on
Richmond Avenue in her Mazda 3 sports car,
Miss Padilla told the Advance.

By then, his truck was already banged up and had a
flat tire, Miss Padilla said. That time he stopped, and when Miss Padilla walked
to his car, she could smell booze through the window.

"All he kept saying was, ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I
have a lot of money and I’ll pay for everything.’"

When she tried to pull off to the side of the road,
though, he rear-ended her again, she said. And when Miss Padilla started talking
to her father on her cell phone, Omdahl drove off, she said.

She was uninjured, and her car took minor damage, she
said.

He didn’t get far — police said he hit a car where
Richmond Avenue meets Hylan Boulevard, causing a chain-reaction that ended in a
five-car crash.

Even so, only one person involved in the crash
received minor injuries, according to a law enforcement source.

It’s there where police arrested him. He blew a .101
percent blood alcohol level on a field test on the scene, according to police
reports, but refused a formal blood alcohol test.

According to the law enforcement source, Omdahl told
police after the arrest, "I was drinking because I was watching the Yankee game.
I knew that I had to pay child support, so I went to my ex-wife’s house.... I
know I made a mistake because I was driving when I drank too much."

The gun, which he purportedly told police he got from
a toolbox in his garage, was recovered on the floorboard of the truck.

Omdahl is charged with second-degree criminal
possession of a weapon, second-degree criminal use of a firearm,
first-degree reckless endangerment,
second-degree menacing, driving while intoxicated and possession of pistol or
revolver ammunition, said William J. Smith, a spokesman for District Attorney
Daniel Donovan.

He was released from Staten Island University
Hospital, Ocean Breeze, this afternoon and
is expected to be arraigned in Stapleton Criminal Court tomorrow.